If you think Andrew Luck and his mates would settle for matching last year's highest-scoring offense in Stanford history, you would be quite wrong.

"We'd like to exceed it," the sophomore quarterback said Wednesday. "No wide receivers graduated. The O-line is looking great. The backs are young and healthy and running hard. As an offense, we strive to be better than we were last year."

It helps to have one of the best quarterbacks in the country. Luck is a little bigger - 6-foot-4, 235 pounds - and he's working on some of the fine points of his game. He has the big points covered, which might make him a very high choice in the NFL draft if he chooses to come out.

He's not thinking about that, he insisted. Asked if his father, Oliver, the athletic director at West Virginia, would like him to graduate, he said, "I'd love to graduate. That's the reason you come to Stanford. Getting a degree - that's worth its weight in gold."

He's on track to earn a degree in architectural design at the end of the 2011-12 school year. He would have two years of eligibility after this season, but hardly anybody thinks he'll stay long enough to complete his eligibility.

If his parents are being hounded by agents who would like to represent him, he said, "I wouldn't know. They won't tell me, and that's probably for the better."

A rare freshman to start at quarterback for Stanford coming out of training camp, he threw for 13 touchdowns against just four interceptions last year, when he had running back Toby Gerhart drawing much of the defense's attention. Both those numbers figure to rise appreciably this year, with the ball probably in the air more.

Besides being a gifted passer, Luck can run. He rushed for more than 2,000 yards in Texas high school ball. Last season he was the Cardinal's second-leading rusher with 354 yards, the highest total by a Stanford quarterback since Gene Washington got 362 in 1966.

Coach Jim Harbaugh "really stresses that the quarterback is going to have to be able to pick up a first down at some point with his legs," Luck said, "be it on a designed run or a pass that breaks down."

Luck's first run last year came on his sixth snap, a draw play that worked for 31 yards against Washington State. He delivered a blow at the end of the run, although quarterbacks are supposed to slide.

"I might be the worst slider in America," he said. "I'll work on that."

Something else he's working on is his work in the red zone. Specifically, he needs to decide what he's going to do while dropping back rather than waiting until he gets to what's called "the top of the drop."

"The red zone is a constricted field, and you've got to make decisions a little quicker," he said. "If you make a bad decision, you're going to have to pay for it in a much more costly way than out in the open field."

The final minutes of the Big Game brought a graphic example. On the Cal 13-yard line, with Stanford in position to take the lead, Luck threw a game-sealing interception to linebacker Mike Mohamed.

Luck thinks he's more confident this time around and a little more vocal to his teammates. He said Gerhart showed him the way to deal with extraordinary attention: by acting "like a professional."

There's not a bit of cockiness to Luck. "I've honestly done squat on the football field," he said. "So I've got to take care of that. When and if I get a big head, my teammates keep me well grounded. They don't let me get away with much."